Well, the 19th started very light and Stu phoned me to say he was on Merthyr but was going to drop back to Fochriw as it was better for the NW wind. We got to Fochriw and after a bit of glider maintainence, I set off to walk up the hill, something I haven't done for ages. Got to the top to find it very light and cyclic, was a matter of waiting for a bit of wind and making the most of it. I was flying my latest glider, an Ozone Mantra M2. It is Green Yellow Black and White so if you see me give me a wave! I flew it for the first time the night before and almost stalled it twice whilst landing, I have gotten used to being able to land the P81 on lots of brake, the Mantra doesn't like that sort of thing and went horseshoe on me twice. It doesn't like assymetrics either! Anyway, Evan and Neil Mogsie, Stuart and Cookie were up there, as well as Mr. Bull, and we had some good flying, trying to make the best use of the thermals that were coming through. Most of us finished up having to walk back up at least part way, I got drilled onto the side of the hill so went down to the van for a chat with others who had turned up, Steve coach and Chrissie Williams and his mate from SWWSC. Got back onto the top and took off for a nice bit of up and down before finding something that I could work to a nice bit of height before losing it, and then found a bit more and before you know it I was corkscrewing upwards in the company of my mate Stuart.
Not having radios, we were shouting to each other, and he shouted "Come on, lets go!" I replied "No, I'm still going up". See, I not too old to learn! Any how, I noticed that apart from us being the only two flying, it was getting a little bit 'milky' below me, and a glance over my shoulder showed Mr Oz was quite indistinct, in spite of being close; it also went quite quiet, lack of beeping noises confirmed that I was at base so I turned downwind and headed for the boonies. Well Pontlottyn actually as by now I was over the village of Fochriw. As we left the area I did notice that it was all now in shadow, and thought Ahh, it's all shut off.
We crossed over Pontlottyn without any lift and got to Abertysswg without the vario waking up, losing height all the way, but not too drastically, so we had a bit of height in hand as we got to the ridge behind Aber. I was weighing up the distance to the next ridge, the back side of Manmoel common and thinking that we had enough height to get there and still soar it; I know from past experience that it is quite an active ridge, thermals often blow down the valley from Tredegar and pop off here, and weighing up the fact that it has no real bottom landing unless you push well out into the valley, but my attention was drawn to birds circling below us. Stuart shouted and pointed at them and we headed towards them but alas, they were fibbing and we found only very weak lift. As we searched back and forth we got lower and lower, scouring the hillside and above the forestry for lift without success and eventually Stuart shouted and asked where I was planning to land. "Dunno" I shouted back and he replied "Well hurry up and decide, I only got 60 feet below me!" So that was it, we landed on Abertysswg, after a monumental XC of 6.5K!!!
I phoned Jen to tell her where we were and that we were ok, and ten minutes later Jen phoned back to say that the most Honourable Mr. Cooke was on his way to collect us, so we walked to the road and soon enough along came Cookie taxie to take us back to Fochriw.
After a bite to eat we resumed flying untill it became obvious that Merthyr was now working well, so we de-camped and went there. I met up with the hang gliding crew and collected a batten profile for my Java, but although I had my HG with me I continued flying the Mantra. I had a couple of good flights, including one where I gained a satisfying amount of height by flying with a great deal of precision and care, matching my drift to the drift of the wind, varying my brake input to stay in the thermal whilst mimimising my drift over the back of the hill. Then, when I figured it was time to push forward I found to my annoyance that I went up much faster just by sitting there and letting the glider fly itself. Ah well. Eventually I pushed well forward and meandered about losing height till I was close enough to get my feet on the ground and decided to call it a day. And a darned good one too! I flew Fochriw, Aber and Merthyr.
On the way home I saw someone doing really well over the Bedlinog end of Fochriw and found out later it was Phil who had managed to get out for the last flight of the day. Wickid!!
